


Creating and Free

by miribees



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Childhood, Fluff, Gen, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, i really mean it slap that read button for cute baby jester learning to play the piano
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-28
Updated: 2018-10-28
Packaged: 2019-08-08 20:31:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16436279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miribees/pseuds/miribees
Summary: "Jester wasn't lying when she said she had excellent piano teachers, in fact, she had only the best.Mr. Jacobson who played regularly for her mother before his wrists were overcome with pain, Pyotr who came from the localacademy, and her absolute favourite; Leilana, a travelling pianist who hopped from piano to piano and town to town as easily as a bird could flit from branch to branch."Jester learns a little bit about the piano and is damned cute doing so.





	Creating and Free

Jester wasn't lying when she said she had excellent piano teachers, in fact, she had only the best.

Mr. Jacobson who played regularly for her mother before his wrists were overcome with pain, Pyotr who came from the local academy, and her absolute favourite; Leilana, a travelling pianist who hopped from piano to piano and town to town as easily as a bird could flit from branch to branch.  
Marion was taken with the talented young woman and offered to sponser her at the Lavish Chateau for as long as she desired, but Leilana only laughed at such a suggestion.

"2 months of your company, my lady, would be an honour. But music drives me onward."

\--

Jester watched one night from the top of the stairs as the lights dimmed and flickered to the beginnings of sultry bass tones and softly vibrating chords before her mother descended slowly into the scene, weaving her own voice seamlessly into the net of sound Leilana was laying out for her like a red carpet. It was during the first week of this arrangement that Pyotr left quite suddenly, the morning before his usual lesson with Jester. When Jester was questioned on why he _possibly_ would have strung his own undergarments up as a banner in the music room and taken the metronome apart into a thousand pieces on the floor as a bizarre parting gift, the tiefling child had no explanation.

\--

"My child, you're lucky Ms Leilana is here and is so gracious as to teach you."

Marion sighed as she straightened the front of Jester's blouse, causing the child to squirm away from her mother's nimble fingers.

"It's Pyotr's fault for goin' away."

Marion made a face in response, red lips curling downwards as she studied her child before lunging forwards to blow a raspberry on the top of Jester's head. She squealed in surprise, pawing at her mother's face in a vain attempt to break free from the sloppy kiss. Marion eventually relinquished her grip to focus on straightening Jester's blouse again as Jester wiped at her hair.

"Promise mama you'll be good for Ms Leilana, alright my darling? And no crossing your fingers behind your back."

"Yes, mama." Jester smiled as Marion waved goodbye, her usual guard escorting her back to her quarters, leaving Jester to wait for Leilana in the music room. Jester's tail uncurled behind her back-

_Mama didn't say anything about that_

Several minutes passed before Leilana swept into the room like a sudden summer storm hitting a warm, unsuspecting evening, and Jester bounced where she sat at the piano in anticipation as this elemental force of a woman approached with long hair swinging over her shoulders and small glasses perched on the tip of a round nose.

"Good evening Ms Leilana!" Jester piped up, a picture of innocence and poise, and Leilana set a thin folder of parchment in front of her on the wooden board with a light _fwip_ and a laugh.

"Good evening to you too, Jester. It's so nice to meet the daughter of such a lovely host."

"Isn't my mama pretty!?" Jester blurted out, specks of spittle hitting Leilana's lenses.

"She's very pretty. Your mama is a wonderful musician." Leilana hummed as she wiped her lenses on a loose chiffon scarf, and Jester grinned.

"Mama can't play the piano like, at all, that's why we got you!"

"Do you like playing the piano, Jester?" Leilana knelt beside the piano bench at her student's level, a warm smile tugging at her lips.

"Of course!" Jester squirmed, stretching to tap a cloven toe against one of the golden pedals beneath her. She raised a wicked hand high and slammed it down to rake across an octave of pure dissonance before Leilana snatched out with a deft hand to gently but firmly stay Jester's performance. The sound warbled on faintly from the pedal as Leilana turned Jester's hand so that she was holding it gently in her own, leaning closer to look into her wide purple eyes.

"Jester, we must respect our instrument, you understand?"

"...m'kay." Leilana sighed, releasing her student as she stood and moved to sit on the end of the piano bench beside her, the child wiggling to make room for her larger figure.

"Can you play that for me again, but without hitting our friend the piano?" Jester turned to look up in astonishment at the request, but Leilana was still just smiling down at her, a hint of a challenge on her lips. "Show me what that was, but gentle this time, okay?"

"Okay!"

Jester wiggled her fingers before dragging them again, cautiously, over as many keys as she could, layering each frequency over another as the pedal held on desperately under the onslaught. Reaching the top of the keyboard, she looked to Leilana for a sign of approval.

"Go on, then!" She urged, voice cutting through the dense fog of sound with a crystal clear laugh.

Jester gave a shriek of excitement as she brought both hands now over the keys, making her left into a fist in order to hit a clump of notes before remembering what Leilana had said about hitting, and settled for rolling her knuckles over the lowest octave while her right hand danced over as many different notes as she could reach. Finishing her creation with a double-handed slap in the centre of the keys, Jester looked up at her teacher with a devilish grin and stuck out her tongue. Leilana stuck out her tongue right back, and Jester giggled.

"Do you like making your own music, Jester?" Leilana queried, leaning forward to rest her chin in her hand and study her student's face. She watched as Jester's eyes lit up with an unmistakable passion.

"Yes!! That's what I do, I make songs for the Traveler! He thought that one was funny. Stinky Pyotr didn't like my songs. We only played boring things." Blue cheeks puffed out in indignation, and Leilana couldn't help but laugh again.

"Am I stinky too?"

"No!" Jester objected quickly, bouncing up to stand on the bench. "You're pretty and you play good and mama likes you and you like my songs."

"Why, I'm flattered. And who is the Traveler, dear child?"

"My best friend! He's green and cool and plays with me, we play together!" Leilana hummed in response.

"He likes your music?"

"Yeah!"

"He'd probably like it if you learned a proper scale, wouldn't that be impressive?" Jester pouted again and jumped down to lie on the floor, burying her face in the plush carpet under her.

"The Traveler doesn't need scales."

"You could teach him scales!"

"...mmmehph." Jester rolled over onto her back, looking at Leilana upside down with a critical eye.

"If you learn all your arpeggios, you can make even bigger, more exciting songs to play for your friend."

"... 'splain?"

"Come sit up and I'll show you."

Jester sat still for a record 30 minutes of scales and arpeggio's, watching Leilana's fingers glide up and down the keys and mimicking her movements as best as she could, with her own artistic embellishments, of course.

"Remember to swoosh your wrists out just like I'm doing, do you see?"

"Swoosh!" Jester waved an elbow out to her side in an exaggerated swoop, connecting two notes with a flourish.

"You're getting it! Can you play your major scale just like that?"

"Pbbbltpt." Jester stuck out her tongue and hopped down off the bench and buried her face in the lavish carpet again, this time stifling a yawn into its dense material.

"Alright, alright, I get the picture, but we can say 'No' with our words next time, okay?" Leilana sighed and closed the folder of parchment where it sat and swiveled on the bench to look down at Jester through her glasses with a firm expression that still could not disguise a twinkle of amusement in her eyes.

"'kay." Jester mumbled again, drool already pooling on the sides of her face.

"Do you want Bluve to take you back to your room, and I'll see you again in a few days?"

"Please."

"Do you promise to practice your scale you learned today?"

"... maybe."

"Alright. You did very good today, Jester."

"Of _course_ I did... but thank you."

Leilana laughed, and skipped deftly over Jester's curled-up form to the door where Bluve waited outside, saying something Jester was too tired to bother processing, to which Bluve gave a deep chuckle in response. Jester was vaguely conscious of his low voice rumbling over her as she was scooped up into his arms and carried away.

\--

Jester awoke again to a kiss. Shifting under her blanket, she peeked up to see her mother hovering over her in a plain blue nightgown, makeup wiped away and jewelry absent, and Marion quickly moved to put a finger to her lips at the sight of her daughter stirring.

"Shh, baby, I didn't mean to wake you. Mama's going to bed now too, okay? I just wanted to see you and kiss you goodnight." Jester yawned and rubbed at her eyes in response.

"No people?"

"No, darling, Mama's done working."

"S'you can sleep here with me?"

"I-" Marion paused, eyes flicking over her daughter in her small bed before giving a sigh. "Alright", she whispered, "but you'd better make room or else Mama is gonna squish you!"

Jester giggled as she rolled over, letting her mother nestle close to her, being careful even in her sleepy haze to not poke her with her horns.

"Mama?"

"Yes, Jester?" Marion pressed another kiss to her forehead and she sighed with contentment, looking up through half-lidded eyes.

"I'm _very_ good at the piano."

**Author's Note:**

> i'm..... so tired  
> i just wrote this in three-ish hours and i'm uploading at 1 am bc i have no self control.  
> i was bit by the "music as a fundamental and enriching childhood experience" bug and vomited out jester fluff and you all have to deal with it
> 
> also marion is a good mom and very pretty.  
> how you imagine leilana is up to you! she big lesbian bard that teaches Her Own Way


End file.
